The Visiting Professor of the Australian Institute of Macedonian Studies, Professor Dr. Constantinos Hatzidimitriou, recipient of the 2023 Christos Mantzios Visiting Scholar Award, will give his first seminar on Monday, October 23, 2023, on the role of Eleftherios Venizelos in the Asia Minor Campaign, as manifested through the American Archives.
The Australian Institute of Macedonian Studies (AIMS), in close collaboration with the Oceania Branch of the National Hellenic Research Foundation Eleftherios Venizelos and The Greek Community of Melbourne and Victoria, present this seminar at 6.30 pm at the Lyceum Theatre of Alphington Grammar School.
Dr Hatzidimitriou, who comes with his wife Peggy, is a researcher and Professor at the American Hellenic Institute & St. John’s University, New York.
The seminar will be enriched by historian and member of AIMS, Mr Stavros Stavridis, who will refer to the British and Australian archives for the contribution of Eleftherios Venizelos to Asia Minor.
The event is the first appearance of the Australia and New Zealand Chapter of the Eleftherios Venizelos National Research Foundation, a new association supported by Church and State, as its members in Australia are many academics, artists, community leaders from all regions of Greece.
The seminar will follow the screening of the Documentary on Eleftherios Venizelos, which will take place at the Como Theatre on Saturday at 4.00 pm.
The seminar entitled The Role of Eleftherios Venizelos in the Asia Minor Expedition and its Outcome will begiven in English and Greek and will be coordinated by the President of AIMS, Professor Dr Anastasios Tamis. This pioneering seminar with a visiting Professor from the USA is dedicated to the memory of Ethnarch Venizelos, and honours the memory of AIMS’ close associates, Panagiotis Liveriadis, Dimitris Kontoleon, Kostas Chatzistavrou and Christos Mantzios.
The panel and the audience will be welcomed by the Principal of Alphington Grammar, Dr Vivian Nikou, who maintains close relations with AIMS. During the seminar, images from the Archives will be projected and the technical editing has been undertaken by AIMS’ collaborators, George Lioukas and Nikos Papakonstantinou. This will be followed by a reception organised by AIMS and the Oceania Branch of the Eleftherios Venizelos National Foundation, coordinated by Mrs Christina Kotsifaki-Sari.
On Wednesday, 25 October at 6.30pm, Dr Constantinos Hatzidimitriou will present his first public lecture in Australia at the Lyceum Theatre of Alphington Grammar, Melbourne on the topic, Understanding Two Important Commemorations: America’s Involvement in the Greek Revolution of 1821 and the Smyrna Catastrophe of 1922.
People invited to attend include educators, leaders of Hellenism, as well as those interested in Greek American relations at these two key stages of modern Greek national history.
Next Friday, October 27, this highly qualified researcher and academic at 6.30pm at the Lyceum Theatre of Alphington Grammar will also present his extremely interesting lecture on Asia Minor Hellenism in general and Pontic Hellenism under the topic, Who Destructed Christianity in Asia Minor? illuminating aspects of the destruction of the Greek Orthodox, as well as the Pontian Hellenes and Asia Minor Greeks.
Dr Hatzidimitriou will continue his lectures from October 28 to November 3 at the University of Sydney and at the premises of the Greek Community of Sydney and NSW. The events are organised there in collaboration with the Kostis Palamas Cultural Department of AHEPA, the National President of AHEPA, George Lianos, the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW, and the Greek Festival of Sydney team under the supervision of Ms Nia Karteris. Admission is free to all those who wish to attend.
The Visiting Professor of AIMS:
Constantine G. Hatzidimitriou holds a doctorate in Byzantine, Ottoman, and Modern Greek history from Columbia University. He was a Gennadius Fellow at the American School in Athens, and an Educational Counselor at the US Consulate in Thessaloniki, where he also served as a professor at Anatolia College. Currently he is the managing editor of the American Journal of Contemporary Hellenic Issues and the Journal of Modern Hellenism and a Research Associate at St. John’s University in NYC.
Dr Hatzidimitriou is also the author of three books: Navios: A Future Built Upon a Historical Tradition of Innovation and Excellence (2007); American Accounts Documenting the Destruction of Smyrna (2005) and Founded on Freedom and Virtue: Documents Illustrating the Impact in the United States of the Greek War of Independence (2002) in addition to many articles in scholarly journals in the fields of Byzantine and Modern Greek history and education. In 2022, his book on Smyrna was updated and published in Modern Greek. He is currently working on a new book on the American Philhellenes during the Greek Revolution, and another one on Central Greece during the Byzantine and Ottoman periods.
